Ex-Crystal Palace star Clinton Morrison identifies the one weakness Patrick Vieira must work on

Former Crystal Palace forward  Clinton Morrison says manager Patrick Vieira’s challenge next season is to turn the numerous draws into wins.

The Eagles finished last season on 48 points, just one short of their Premier League all-time best points tally, and crowned off the campaign with an impressive 1-0 win over Manchester United.

They also made a memorable trip to Wembley for the FA Cup semi final, where they came up short against Chelsea.

Players like Conor Gallagher, on-loan from Chelsea, and Marc Guehi, enjoying his first season as a Palace player, broke into the England team.

Young left-back Tyrick Mitchell also made it into the Three Lions squad as evidence of the fine form he was enjoying at Palace.

This season promises to be equally entertaining, but with a difficult start that has the Eagles playing against Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City in the first four games, Clinton Morrison says the manager knows that he will have to try and turn most of the draws into wins.

He told OLGG: “Patrick Viera will be the first to admit that there were too many draws, if they had less draws then they would have finished in the top half of the table.

“But to get them to the FA Cup semi-final was a great achievement and I think he proved a lot of doubters wrong because a lot of people thought Palace would struggle last season.

“People said they lost too many experienced players, but the recruitment was superb with some of the young players he brought in as well as Conor Gallagher on loan.

“It made Palace one of the most exciting young teams in the Premier League.

“This season I still think they could do with a few more signings, but they’ve done reasonably well so far and kept hold of their star players.”

Tooting lad Morrison played 281 for his local team Palace and scored 102 goals.

“I think Viera will just want to keep evolving and keep improving,” he said.

“Palace have been in the Premier League now for 10 years and for me that’s a great achievement for the club.

“People used to think they were a club that would go up and down, but it’s not the case anymore.

“They’re an established Premier League team, so Patrick Viera just needs to keep that up.

“Another thing I’ve noticed under Patrick Viera is the way the team has tried to evolve their football.

“Under Roy Hodgson it was a counterattack, but now Palace like to dominate possession and play out from the back.

“It lets everyone believe in themselves in their abilities both on the training pitch and match days.”

The Eagles are primed to take on French side Montpellier in what is their final pre-season game before hosting Arsenal under the lights at Selhurst.